Cotto may be cool to fighting Pacquiao

By John F. McKenna (McJack): Former World Boxing Association (WBA) junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s) is one of the fighters under consideration to take on eight division champion Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s). A Cotto – Pacquiao rematch makes sense. Cotto’s boxing career received a shot in the arm when he stopped long time nemesis Anthony Margarito (38-8, 27 KO’s) last December.

Miguel followed the win over Margarito with a strong showing against undefeated superstar WBA middleweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (43-0, 36 KO’s). Cotto lost a unanimous decision but gave a good account of himself against Mayweather in a tougher than expected fight.

Pacquiao has already fought WBO light welterweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KO’s) three times with no definitive winner in each of the three contests. Many boxing fans are of the opinion that another contest between the two would be more of the same, and are not eager to see a 4th Pacquiao – Marquez fight.

The vast majority of boxing fans feel that Pacquiao, clearly dominated Bradley last June and see no need for a rematch. Further complicating matters with regard to Bradley getting a rematch with “Pacman” is the dismally low Pay Per View (PPV) sales in the June fight. The PPV buys were in the 700,000 range, approximately 600,000 less that the Pacquiao – Marquez fight last November. It is not likely that Top Rank CEO Bob Arum would want to put his cash cow into another match with Bradley.

Cotto has a huge fan base and his drawing power played a huge part in his match with Mayweather drawing 1.5 million in PPV buys last May 5. Presumably a match between Pacquiao and the rejuvenated Cotto would also bring fans out in droves. “Pacman” for his part would undoubtedly want to go for another KO win against Miguel, something that “Money May” was unable to pull off. Manny would be able to use a KO win over Cotto as leverage for a hoped for fight with Mayweather. As it now stands Floyd stands firm in his refusal to give Pacqquiao a 50-50 split of the revenue for such a fight.

The great unknown however for a 2nd Cotto – Pacquiao match is whether Miguel would want to risk the type of beat down he suffered at Manny’s hands in November of 2009. Cotto may be cool to the idea of facing Pacquiao again with the knowledge that he cannot match Manny’s lightning fast combinations or power. The assertion by some that Cotto was weight drained in the Pacquiao fight does not hold water. The Cotto – Pacquiao fight was at a catchweight of 145 pounds that he had agreed to in advance. In his fight prior to the Pacquiao match, Miguel weighed just a pound more than he did against Manny. Other than a fight with Mayweather, a match between Pacquiao and Cotto would make the most sense and is a match that many boxing fans would like to see.